Oklahoma Chamber of Horrors Shut Down by Beagle Freedom Project Turns Into Animal Sanctuary
Every year, Shannon Keith writes a letter to every animal-testing facility in the US, asking them to release their animals to the organization she founded in 2010, the Beagle Freedom Project (unconnected to the group in Wisconsin fighting for beagle rights). She rarely gets a response, so when she wrote to a huge testing laboratory in Nowata, Oklahoma, her appeal was ignored.
The lab — Riner and Associates, also known as Animal Health Innovations Inc. — had been testing toxic flea and tick products on animals for decades. Its 30-acre lab housed over 200 dogs and cats (and a few pigs). After receiving numerous citations from the USDA – the creatures were kept outside in cold, small enclosures with tents for shelter, or inside in tiny cages on hard concrete – the lab finally got back to Keith.
From 2021, the lab began to release dogs and cats to Keith’s group, who would find homes for the hapless creatures. Over time, Keith convinced the owners to shut down the testing facility and sell the property, so Beagle Freedom Project snapped it up and rebuilt the chamber of horrors as a sanctuary.
“Part of our negotiations was that he would relinquish his USDA license and never test on animals again,” Keith tells News on 6. “We had no part in paying for the business; the business is over. We purchased the property and took all the animals he would release to our custody. So we got 200-plus dogs and cats,” Keith explains.
“They’ve never known a toy, they’ve never known a treat. They really don’t know anything so it’s a matter of teaching them the comforts and love we’re used to giving our dogs and cats at home. So it’s so exciting that finally today we’re able to give them all the love in the world.”
The new sanctuary, now called Freedom Fields, will be more of an adoption center than forever home. “The animals aren’t going to live here forever. This will be a safe, soft landing spot where they can take their first steps of freedom.”
Visit the Beagle Freedom Project for more info and to donate to the cause. We can vouch for the place: these dog lovers – along with intense public pressure – were instrumental in the rescue of 4000 beagles from a Virginia lab a couple years ago, and one of the refugees from that episode happens to be our own beloved Atwood.
Atwood by Amy Joy Scheinert
Photo credit: Beagle Freedom Project
